New Vegas Situation
by Taylor1000
Summary: The Second battle of Hoover Dam has ended, and Mr House has won. The Courier is now tasked with restoring order by securing the stablity of New Vegas.
1. Prelude

The Courier sat in the Cocktail Bar of the Lucky 38, viewing the Strip. The entire Mojave was under his command. Well, Mr House and his command. It had been a long journey to get here, but it was done. He remembered back to his childhood, in the Vault. He couldn't remember the name or location of his old home, but he remembered it. It had been safe there. Well, he thought it had been safe. It hadn't been, or he wouldn't have been forced out by raiders. That was back when he was 9 or 10. Then he had wandered the wastelands with his Mom and Dad for a few years. He had learnt several things that had been crucial in his upbringing. First, he had learnt the most important lesson to all survivors: Food is food. He'd eaten other people, feral ghouls, mutants. He wasn't a cannibal gourmet, like people like Mortimer and the rest of the White Glove Society, but during long battles and trips into the Wastelands he needed food to get his strength up. He didn't regret it, and he would still do it when he needed to. It was the same as every other meat. Nowadays though, he had a more refined taste. He loved the old world food, like Fancy Lad Snack Cakes, Sugar Bombs and Alcohol, especially Whiskey. And of course, he had become a great speaker. While most of the people wandering the desert were aggressive brutes, he had learnt charm and intelligence. He learnt about mechanics, medicine, bartering and sciences, but most importantly how to convince people. His skill with words allowed him to convince his way to positions of power and scam people out of money.

The Courier wondered whether he was a good person, whether he had done things for the greater good. He hoped so. He wasn't a bad person. He had done everything he could to help people. Sure, he took advantage of the situation when he could, made some profit from himself. He also had a nasty streak, and people who crossed him didn't last long. The Powder Gangers, the Fiends, Benny: None of them lasted long. He had wiped out the Powder Gangers in a raid at their facilities, and hunted down the Fiend Leaders. Benny had been lured to his room and burned alive with an Incinerator. The Legion had it the worst. He had fought the Legion at every opportunity, even assassinating Caesar in a full on attack in the fort, and wiping out the Legate in the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. He didn't leave enemies alive. The NCR was the only others who had anything against him, but even most of them liked him. He had helped them out on many occasions, getting supplies, hunting enemies, saving the Camp McCarran Monorail, and even saved their President, eventually convincing them to retreat from the Mojave. So they were probably more friends than foes. He looked out at the New Vegas Strip, and for the first time since getting shot in the head, he was hopeful.

The Courier was about to go into another deep thought about the situation in New Vegas when he heard a bark. He looked back and saw Blitz and Chase, two of Rex and Roxie's puppies, running towards him. He got up and took a Brahmin Steak from his backpack and threw it to them. They immediately dashed off after it. The Courier's Pip Boy buzzed, the signal Mr House wanted him. He went to the elevator, going up to the Penthouse. The Courier was definitely Mr House's favourite lieutenant. The other lieutenants were Cachino, from the Omerta's, Marjorie from the Ultra-Luxe, Pearl from the Boomers, Lieutenant Palmer, who represented the NCR Traders, the King from Freeside and Swank from the Tops. Mr House and the lieutenants met regularly about deals. Mr House also invited several other key members to these meetings, like Primm Slim from Prim, Marcus from Jacobstown, Julie Farkas from the Followers of the Apocalypse, Cliff Briscoe from Novac and Victor from Goodsprings. Trudy had originally been Goodsprings' representative, but after deciding nothing important was happening at the meetings, started sending Victor instead to avoid going.

The elevator doors opened, and he was greeted by Jane. Jane was Mr House's… The Courier wasn't sure of their relationship. "Girlfriend" was perhaps the right choice. Then again, the Courier wondered how their "physical" relationship worked. Then he felt sick, and took a breath. He walked down the stairs and in front of the giant monitor, with the face of Mr House on it.

"Hello." Mr House said.

"New Vegas is looking good, Mr House. I'm impressed."

A Protectron Servant walked up to him carrying a tray with an ice cold Nuka Cola on it, and the Courier took it.

"Thanks." The Courier said. "So what's up?"

"Actually, I'm having a minor issue. The Followers of the Apocalypse aren't doing well. I need them up and running to secure New Vegas."

"They aren't doing well? I helped them power this city, I opened supply links for them, I let them use my robot ED-E, I even agreed to put a bug in your network for them, and they're stilling not doing well?"

"The recent turmoil we caused has sent them far too many wounded to deal with. There's NCR wounded who I've agreed to take care of until they can leave so the NCR and I can continue our trading, all of the soldiers who supported me during the battle, like the Kings and the Omerta's goons, and any civilians injured. That's added to the normal amount of wounded in there."

Though the NCR had officially retreated from the Mojave, many of the soldiers had deserted to stay in New Vegas, and the NCR had opened Trade Outposts a few of their old bases so Shady Sands wouldn't lose access to the resources here. Still, Mr House made sure they didn't get nearly enough weapons to cause anything, and taxed them heavily.

"What else?"

"The Fiends have hit an NCR Trading Post and taken its weapons, so we have a group of armed drug addicts who can't get a fix since the Great Khans retreated out of the Mojave."

"I wiped out the Fiends. All of their leaders are dead."

"One of them, Driver Nephi, isn't dead."

"Who the hell is Driver Nephi?"

"A Fiend leader who isn't dead yet. So I need you to take him out."

"Fine. Is that it?"

"One last thing. The Gun Runners have sent out a request for you to go to their headquarters."

"The Gun Runners? Don't they usually stay away from traders?"

"Yes, and that's why you need to see what they want."

"Fine. I'll do it." The Courier said.

He turned away and walked into the elevator, and went down to his room. Rex was lying on his bed next to Roxie, and another cyber-puppy ran past him. He went into his room and grabbed his Magnum .44, a gift from a wandering musician, and a switchblade. He considered heading out to the Old Mormon Fort, the Gun Runners Camp or to search for the Fiends, but he decided he needed a break. He grabbed some bottle caps and headed out to the Tops for a break.


	2. Assassins

The Courier walked into the Tops, and was met was a flash of dazzling lights and the sounds of roulette wheels spinning, people laughing and music from the theatre blaring through. He was wearing sunglasses and White Glove Society attire and had his magnum in its holster at his side.

"Hey, I'll need to take your weapons." The Greeter said.

"No, you don't."

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to."

"Do you know what happened to the last guy who messed with me? I'll give you a hint. His name was Benny."

The Greeter backed off, and the Courier went over to the Cashier and exchanged his caps for chips. He found a table, and got into a game of Blackjack. He started drinking his way through a bottle of whiskey, and started gambling. He had two thousand caps' worth of chips, and after two winning streaks and a few heavy losses, that number had stayed steady. He got another whiskey, but it tasted off, like cazador meat, so he didn't finish it. Two Gambler walked past, and put two Legion Aureus on the counter each.

"I think you lucky streak just ended." One said. "For Caesar."

The Gamblers drew silenced pistols, and another behind the Courier slipped on spiked knuckledusters. The Courier drew his weapon and fired three shots, hitting one of the shooters in the stomach and sending him down. He grabbed the guy with knuckledusters and flung him into the other shooter, who fired several shots into his friend in an effort to shoot through him and kill the Courier. The Courier aimed his magnum and fired his three remaining shots. One shot hit the silenced pistol and sent it to the floor. Another blew a gaping hole in his hand, and the final shot shattered his knee, and the shooter collapsed. The Courier smiled.

"Hit me." The Courier said, looking at the dealer.

The Dealer looked scared, but threw down a ten, giving him 23. The Courier frowned, and left the table, picking up the injured gambler and throwing him over his shoulder. He carried him out the doors off the tops and headed off to the Lucky 38 to find out who sent him.

The Assassin was tied to a chair, covered in blood and gently moaning. Laid out in front of the Courier was his tools, a Cattle Prod, his switchblade and the Liberator, a Legion sword he had taken in the battle of Nelson.

"I'm going to ask you one more time before I get mad. Who sent you?"

"It was Lucius. The Legion sent us to kill you."

"He's in charge? Then again, since Caesar and the Legate died, he would be. So your best plans were to shoot me? That's the best you had?"

"We had other plans. We poisoned your drink with cazador poison. It must have been… I don't know, the poison just didn't work."

"It didn't work because I can't die. Nothing can kill me, understand?" The Courier lied.

That wasn't the reason, it was because his "heart" was a machine, a Big MT creation, but the Courier wanted to keep the assassins fear of him higher than his fear of the legion.

"Please don't kill me. I don't want to die." The Assassin begged.

"I'm a little proud he placed me above President Kimball and General Oliver on his assassination list. General Oliver probably wouldn't be too hard to find, he doesn't care as much about his life since I snatched the Mojave from him, convinced him to leave everything he'd worked so hard to get. Still, I'm sorry to say you haven't told me enough to earn your life."

"NO! I can tell you more!"

The Courier smiled. The Legion must be failing badly for their legionnaires being this easy to break.

"Go on." The Courier said.

"The… the Great Khans have left! Evacuated their base and left off into the desert."

"I already knew that, I'm afraid."

"I don't know anything else! Wait, there was a Slave Revolt, and a few dozen slaves escaped while we were attacking Hoover Dam."

The Courier paused, considering this.

"Is that all you know?"

"Yes! I swear!"

"Then you've earned your life. I'll untie you."

"Thank you. I…"

The Courier fired his revolver, blowing out the back of the legionnaire's head. He didn't want to kill him, but if he let him go he'd only revert back to the Legion eventually. At least he died happy, thinking he was about to be let free.

Looking at the dead, bloody legionnaire got the Courier thinking about death. He had a charmed life, and it was likely it wouldn't last soon. Even if he did, death was a certainty to all. Any day now he die. Maybe he could join the Think Tank, preserving his brain and "surviving" for eternity. Or research Ghouls and Super Mutants, and turn himself into one to live longer. But that was a discussion for another day.

The Courier got in the elevator and left the basement, going up to his suite.

The Courier got into his power armor, which he had gotten from the Enclave Remnants, and holstered his magnum. He hid his switchblade in his boot, and sheated his sword, the Liberator. He put his Heavy Incinerator on his back, and packed up several bottles of Ice Cold Nuka Cola and enough Salibury Steak, Fancy Lad Snack Cakes and Sugar Bombs to last a week. Finally, he grabbed a celebatorty bottle of Whiskey he would have when he was finished.

"Rex! Boone! We need to go. We have things to do."

Rex ran up to him and barked, while Boone walked into view, his hard face giving nothing away.

"Let's go." Boone said.


	3. Gun Runners

The Gun Runners wanted the Courier to meet with them at the 188 Trading Post, so he ventured there. There were two guards armed with assault carbines and wearing combat armour, guarding Isaac, the Gun Runners' New Vegas Leader. One of the guards was dragging three coyotes into a pile.

"Hello." Isaac said.

"This is interesting, isn't it? Usually the Gun Runners keep to themselves, but I find out you've specifically asked for me. Why is that?"

"Straight to the point then. You've caused a lot of trouble for us. The NCR were good customers, and our trading with them has been brought down to the bare minimum."

"I heard you've started a nice relationship with the Boomers. The only reason they're branching out is because of me." The Courier said.

"True. But I'd really like to expand. With the huge increase in Securitrons, they need a lot of ammo and missiles. We could enter a trade relationship."

"Go on. I feel this is leading to somewhere."

"Well, since the Gloria Van Graffs untimely death, there's been a market opening for energy weapons."

"Ah yes, Gloria. She was executed by a gunshot to the head when he caravan was raided by a heavily armed gang, wasn't she?"

"Yes. Probably the Brotherhood of Steel, angry at her use of energy weapons." Isaac said.

"I heard a rumour that it was Gun Runners."

"Not all rumours are true. But some are." Isaac said, winking. "Anyway, with the Van Graffs and the Brotherhood of Steel both wiped out, there's very few energy weapons anyway in the Mojave. So I need help breaking into the market."

"How?"

"I need to make sure the Kings don't move on us if we try to take over the Van Graffs location. Also, the location of the Brotherhood of Steel bunkers so we can send in our Prospectors to get scraps, as well as an audience with Mr House to make a deal with supplying the Securitrons."

"I'll talk to the King, make sure he knows you're moving in. The bunker is South-West of Black Mountain. I'll arrange a meeting with Mr House, but you're not going into the Lucky 38. You'll make the deal through a Securitron. OK?"

"Fair enough. That's all we need to discuss."

"That's it?" The Courier asked.

"Of course."

"Mr House's representative's usually get paid for meetings like these."

Isaac frowned.

"Does two hundred caps sound good?"

"The King isn't the easiest to negotiate with."

"Three hundred."

"And the Brotherhood Bunker has a lot of supplies."

"What's your bottom line?"

"Eight hundred caps. And I need .44 Ammo."

"Fine."

"Good dealing with you." The Courier said.

They exchanged caps and ammo, and the Courier checked his pack. He had only wasted a small bit of ammo killing a group of Cazadors, and he still had more than enough food, drink and stimpaks. His pack was full of supplies, with only a few minor items taking up space, which were his deck of Caravan cards, sunglasses, a Cowboy hat and a teddy bear he had carried all his life, named Sgt Cuddles, which if anyone asked was for target practise. The Courier definitely had enough supplies to make it to the Fiends territory, so he decided to go through Freeside and tell the Kings about the Gun Runners moving in, tell Mr House about the results of the meeting and head off to find Driver Nephi. With that, he headed off.

Lucius sat on the throne, thinking deeply. He was no longer Lucius. He was Caesar now. At least, he was told he was. Caesar, his leader, was dead. He was like a Father to him, and he had been killed. The Legate, the only true commander who could take over New Vegas after Caesars death, was dead. Now it was only him. His Legion was in ruins, and all of it had taken a toll on him. Not physically, but mentally. The Legion had fallen back, and were now too far away from New Vegas to even be considered a threat. But not for long. He had a master plan in the works. He had sent dozens of weapons to the Fiends, who had distract Mr House from the Legion. Then, he had sent half a dozen heavily armed Legionnaires into New Vegas with a large supply of Pyscho to help cause chaos. Lastly, he sent a squad of five to kill the Courier. The Courier was the Wild Card in all this. He had started up all the Securitrons that forced out the Legion, and wiped out their men at the fort. He had helped the NCR train recruits, get supplies and get to a position where they could force off the Legion, before simply convincing the NCR to step down and resign their status in the Mojave as traders. He had killed Caesar and the Legate, and convinced the Great Khans to betray the Legion, and killed the White Leg allies, and… Lucius took a deep breath. It was OK. The Courier was probably dead by now. Then the Legion could invade again and capture the Mojave, once his plan was finished. Then he…

"Caesar! We found him wandering the Mojave." Someone called.

Lucius looked up, and saw two Veteran Decanus dragging a Legionary Scout.

"What happened?" Lucius asked.

"The poison didn't work. The Courier didn't even blink. He…"

"So I assume you had to finish him in close combat?"

"The Men tried to, but the Courier wiped out all three of the ground men."

"So you used your snipers, then?"

There was a Securitron that noticed up. It killed Julian, and I had to retreat."

"So who killed the Courier?"

"No one. We couldn't. He captured Augustus, and…"

Lucius stood up, and grabbed the nearest weapon: a Machete Gladius. He swung the blade, beheading the Scout in a single blow. He yelled, and slashed at the corpse, cutting its chest to ribbons. Then he picked up the head by the hair and walked out of his tent and over to the nearest legionnaires, who were practising brawls.

"Look at this! This is the price of failure! He would not sacrifice himself for the Legion, and he died none the less. We are all dead! Do you understand!? Are lives are over, and we will die for the Legion!" He yelled, before flinging the head at the floor.

The new Caesar turned around, and walked back into his tent. The Courier wasn't going to be assassinated. Now, he'd beat the Courier to near death, give him enough Stimpaks to live, and then crucify him. That was justice.


	4. Westside Incident

Domitus walked into the Casa Madrid Apartments and found a room. He locked the door, and sat down. He checked his pack, and found a large amount of Slasher. Slasher was a mixture of Med-X and Pyscho. It was well known that taking it would break his vows to the Legion. But it was necessary. He needed to, so he could help avenge Caesar. He took a breath, and injected it into his arm. Then he injected another, and another, until five of them flew through her veins. Domitus put on his Legionnaire armour. Then he grabbed his weapons, a Ripper knife, a single shotgun, a hunting rifle and a 10mm Pistol. He waited, as he found himself getting angry and angrier. He kicked open the door, and walked out of the room, and saw a Member of the Westside Militia. He charged, and stabbed him through and throat and yanked out the knife so quickly he snapped his neck. Then he grabbed a passing settler and slashed his throat. A Militia member noticed, and aimed his shotgun, but his head exploded as Domitus aimed his shotgun and fired. His head exploded, and Domitus roared. He drew his pistol and started firing his pistol, killing another settler. Westside Militia soldiers started firing at him, and he took a shot to his leg, shattering the bone, but Domitus laughed it off. He fired back at them, and blew off someone's leg, not even noticing who it was. Now, several Militia members were attacking him, charging with shotguns. Domitus turned and ran back into the apartments. He found a room on the third floor, and shoved several pieces of furniture in front of the door. He noticed a settler appear out of the room's bathroom, and he charged at him and smacked him over the head with the butt of his rifle until his head was mush. He got to his knees and started tearing chunks of flesh off and crammed them into his mouth to fill his belly. Then he head-butted the window, shattering the window and leaving several pieces of glass in the forehead. He grabbed his hunting rifle, peered out the window and started shooting. The Militia started falling back, and stayed in cover.

"Yes." Domitus thought. "They would all die. All of them! He was a Centurion of the Legion! Nothing could stand before him."

Domitus reloaded him gun and laughed.

The Courier, Boone and Rex walked out of the Strip, and along the dusty roads.

"So what's our plan?" Boone asked.

"We wipe out the Fiends scouting posts so they won't know we're coming. Then, we wipe out their drug supply, their armoury and take down Driver Nephi."

"Then they'll just attack the Strip in a panic."

"Exactly. We can buy some explosives in Westside, and set up traps on their path, and wipe out any Fiends attempting to attack."

"Fine."

The Courier noticed someone wandering along the road from the desert. He looked disorientated and bloody.

"Hey. Are you OK?" The Courier asked.

"He killed everyone. There's a Legionnaire in Westside. He's invincible. I thought we killed them. The Legion is supposed to be gone."

"The Legion?" Boone asked, snarling.

"Let's go." The Courier said, breaking into a run.

At Westside, several soldiers were crouching behind cover. The Courier grabbed one of the Militia.

"What's happening?"

"Legionnaires. They wiped out a few of our guys and fortified an apartment room." The Soldier said, panting.

"There's more than one?"

"There's got to be, right? One of them couldn't have killed half a dozen people already. But there's only be one seen so far."

"What's he doing now?"

"He's using a sniper rifle in the apartments."

With that, the Militia member reloaded his weapon and ran forward, firing his gun.

"If he's sniping, I can take him out." Boone said. "If he's really on his own, he doesn't have a spotter, he's probably on some sort of chem by now to take the punishment he's taking."

"So I'll be your spotter, tell you where he is, you take him out."

"Yeah."

The Courier moved forward, running from cover to cover until he slid behind a wall, narrowly avoiding a bullet. He quickly peered out around the corner, and saw the Legionnaire aiming his gun. The Legionnaire saw him, and grinned ear-to-ear, he mouthed the words "Caesar-Killer", and then aimed at him and fired. The Courier ducked and rolled to the side.

The Courier shook his head wearily. He needed a break from this. Maybe he could take Rex and the rest of his dogs up to Zion on a hunting trip for a while. Or go up to Big MT and continue his research into robotics. That was always a nice break. He needed to get away from this career for a while, no matter what. After he killed the Fiends and the Legionnaires.

"Boone!" He yelled. "He's on the second floor, third window from the left.

Boone nodded, and dropped to his knee and aimed as the Legionnaire disappeared.

"He knows we're on to him. He's not coming out." Boone said.

"We need to lure him out." The Courier said.

He aimed his Incinerator and rushed forward.

"Legionnaire! You should know, Caesar begged like a little kid when I killed him."

The Legionnaire peered out of the window, snarling. He fired a full clip at the Courier, before his head exploded in a burst of blood as Boone took his shot. The bullet's scraped off the Courier power armour, but none of them pierced his armour.

"Yeah!" Boone said, showing a trace of a smile. "Straight through the forehead."

The Courier walked into the apartments and up the stairs. He kicked open the doors to the Legionnaire's apartment. His corpse was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, his head in chunks across the room. He searched the room, and found a note.

_Step One: Wipe out Freeside Militia._

_Step Two: Deploy Traps around Strip Exit._

_Step Three: Charge the Strip._

_Step Four: Capture the Strip!_

_Signature: Caesar Lucius_

The Courier read over that, thinking. Lucius was the new Caesar, according to the Assassin he had captured. He must have sent some armed legionnaires high on drugs into New Vegas. There was no hope that he could have captured the Strip. Lucius must have planned for him to finish Step One and Two, and cause enough chaos attempting Step Three to install fear into the citizens of New Vegas. This wasn't good. When the Courier was planning to secure New Vegas, the Legion never factored into it. He wondered how large Lucius' plans were. He had assumed Lucius had ordered the Assassins to kill him, and that would be the end. He would leave, having avenged Caesar, and that would be it. If he was sacrificing legionnaires to cause chaos, it meant he wasn't giving up on New Vegas. If the Legion has nothing to lose, they will sacrifice everything to win. This probably meant he wasn't taking a vacation anytime soon.

On the plus side, there were several dozen frag mines and bear traps hidden in a crate underneath the bed. So that was going to be useful.


	5. Vault 3

The Courier was sitting far away from the Fiends Base, peering through his binoculars. He had greatly underestimated how many Fiends there would be, and had now sent Boone over to the Strip to get a group of Securitrons to help capture the base. The Base was recently set up in Vault 3, to replace the old fiend camp that the Courier had previously wiped out had already planted several frag mines and bear traps in between the Vault and the road to the Strip. He head wheels whir, and saw Boone approaching with a group of eight Securitrons.

"What's the plan?" Boone said.

"I count four different scouting posts surrounding the vault. You, me and Rex will take out the North and West Positions. Securitrons, take out the South and East positions. Don't let any escape, and don't let any Fiends in the base see you."

"Yes Sir!" A Securitron said, and they whirred off in two groups of four.

The Courier grabbed his Incinerator and crouched over to the West Position. There was a rusted old car chassis, with two fiends sitting in the car, having Med-X. Another was walking around it carrying a Sniper Rifle in one hand and a bottle of Vodka in his other hand. Boone aimed and fired a single shot, and the sniper fell. The Courier aimed his Incinerator and fired three shots. The fireballs sailed through the air and into the car and exploded. The Courier didn't know why, but ever since he was young he found fire interesting. He was a bit of a pyromaniac, to be honest. One of the Fiends was set alive, burning up in flames and being incinerated in seconds. The other however, tried to take a breath, but there wasn't any oxygen in the air. He turned and tried to escape the heat, and crawled into the back seat of the car as the flames burned his skin. He got out the backseat window and fell onto the sand, burn marks covering his entire body. The Courier sprinted up to him, and drew his sword, stabbing it through the forehead and into the skull, killing him.

"That Fiend was kind of desperate to survive. I nearly feel bad for killing this one."

He crouched down and started moving towards the North Scouting post, which was a destroyed building with what looked like two snipers on the second floor. The Courier approached, and noticed the Snipers weren't standing, they were lying against the wall. He went up the stairs, and found they each had multiple bullet holes going through their torsos and head. Then he felt the barrel of a gun pressed against his neck. The Courier grabbed the gun barrel and ducked, and turned around. He rammed the shooter against a wall, before noticing his rotting face, and sombrero.

"Raul. Where've you been?"

"Hey, Boss. You know, chasing Jackals, Vipers, Scorpions, various other raider gangs named after animals."

"Well, I'm about to take down the Fiends. You want to help?"

"For another suicide mission with you, definitely, Boss."

The Courier smiled, and sent an order to the Securitrons to head around to the Northern Scouting Point. The Securitrons arrived quickly, and he set them up in a defensive position in behind the traps to hold them off.

"Boone, you stay with the Securitrons. Your talents won't be of any use in a Vault with close range. Take position with the Securitrons."

"Done." Boone said, loading his rifle and walking over to the Securitrons.

"Raul, Rex and I will go inside Vault 3, take out Driver Nephi and their weapons supply. Then, we hightail it out of there. The Fiends will lay chase and we can wipe them out. Got it?"

Rex barked, and Raul chuckled.

"The Plan consists of getting the drug addicts angry, and then making them chase us. Great idea." Raul said.

The Courier chuckled, and drew his magnum. He took out a bottle of Nuka Quartz and downed it in one chug. He used the console to open the vault's door, and walked inside.

The room was much darker, and he nearly couldn't see. He heard a Fiend's voice.

"Ron?" The Fiend asked.

The Courier aimed his pistol, but Raul was faster. The Fiend took a shot through the forehead, and collapsed. The Courier ran inside and aimed his gun and blew out another fiends stomach as it collapsed. A Fiend fired back, and the Courier ducked, before diving behind a wall as a blast of plasma shots came across the room. It was odd for the Fiend's to have plasma weapons, but he shrugged it off. Rex bonded off after the shooters and Raul followed after. The Courier doubled back and ran right, down a different hallway towards the Overseers office. He fired another few shots, killing another few Fiends. He flanked a squad of Fiends charging towards Raul, and sprinted towards the Overseer's office. He was sprinting forward when he knocked into a Fiend. They both sprawled to the floor, and the Courier tried to get up when he was hit by a golf club. He tried to roll around when he got kicked in the stomach. He looked up, and saw the grinning face of Driver Nephi.

"The Famous Courier. I'm disappointed, I thought you'd be more of a…"

He yelled as the Courier slashed his knee with the Liberator Sword. Driver Nephi stumbled, and the Courier grabbed his chin and threw him into the wall. He jumped up but Nephi smacked him in the side of the head with his club. The Courier rolled to the side and slashed Nephi in the stomach, before drawing his pistol and firing it point blank at Nephi's head. The Courier smiled as he pulled the trigger, but Nephi only laughed. The Courier was out of ammo. The Courier was thrown into the wall. Then, Nephi jumped up and swung his golf club multiple times at the Courier's leg, shattering the bone. The Courier winced, and swung his liberator, breaking the golf club in half. Driver Nephi roared, and shoved the jagged end of the club into the Courier's chest. The Courier coughed blood into Nephi's face. He used all his strength to raise his sword and swing. Driver Nephi had assumed the Courier was as good as dead, and hadn't bothered to pull out his club, instead pushing it further to finish him off. The Courier swung with all his might at Driver Nephi's unprotected neck, and beheaded him. Driver Nephi fell. The Courier grabbed the Club and yanked if out, dropping it on the ground. Then, he collapsed on the ground, falling unconscious.


	6. Legion Assault

The Courier woke up in his bed. He looked up, and noticed he was in the Lucky 38. Arcade Gannon stood over him.

"What's up, Arcade?" The Courier asked. "I thought you left to some crappy part of the Mojave to settle down, become a family doctor, die an unremarkable death, so on and so forth."

Arcade smiled. "You haven't lost your sense of humour. That's good for a man on his deathbed."

"I'm the Courier of New Vegas. Every time I go to sleep it's probably on my death bed."

"Always the pessimist. Your stats are doing well. No complications."

"I'm not pessimistic. I'm happy you're back. I would have hated for your wit and humour to be wasted on a settler family. You would have disembowel yourself with your scalpel."

"I like to think I would have done something to staunch the boredom rather that kill myself, but it's good to be here."

"So, how bad is it?"

"You're not doing too badly. In fact, we've healed your leg and the chest lacerations aren't much more than a few Stimpaks worth."

"So I'm good to go?"

"Basically, yes."

The Courier climbed out of bed, and grabbed some clothes.

"You aren't exactly that healthy." Arcade said.

"I need to find Boone…"

"Hey." Boone said, leaning in the doorway.

"What happened with the Fiends?"

"We killed them. They rushed us, and the Securitrons missiles wiped out the main force. Raul and Rex wiped out those still in the Vault. Rex found you and dragged you out to us."

"Where's Raul?"

"He left. He found out the Fiends had a new supplier, and he went off to hunt them down. He said he be back in a few weeks to fix whatever machinery you damaged."

"No. We found a large cache of energy weapons. It was pretty well stocked. Plasma mines, grenades, pistols, rifles, incinerators, even a Fat Man. Way more than the average group Fiend would be able to stockpile. Plus, suits of power armour."

"The Fiends weren't anything special. Sub-par, if anything."

"Yeah. We also found a note. From the Legion." Boone said.

"Go on." The Courier said, nodding.

"The Note said that the Legion would provide the Fiends with weapons and armour if they continued attacking New Vegas."

"How did the Legion get power armour and energy weapons."

Boone shrugged.

"Don't know, don't care. What I do know is there are legionnaires to kill."

"OK. Here's the plan: We'll get the Boomers. Convince them to do a bombing run over the Legionnaires camp, lead the Securitrons in and kill anything left."

"Let's do it."

The Courier wasn't expecting a large fight, but he packed for one anyway. He took his Incinerator, the Liberator, his Magnum, his Switchblade and a Laser Rifle, as well as his Stealth Suit Mark II, from Big Mountain, his Enclave Power Armour, his old jacket from Ulysses, sunglasses, a Cowboy Hat and a ton of ammo. Then he got his Teddy Bear, his Canteen from Vault 13 filled with purified water, Whiskey and Scotch and a bunch of Pre-War food, like Dandy Boy apples, Cram and Sugar Bombs. That was everything he needed.

"Let's go take down the Legion."

The Boomers weren't hard to convince. The Courier was idolized by them, and was the only reason they had a bomber in the first place. Then the Courier had requested a group of twenty Securitrons to take out the last of the Legion. He positioned them outside of the camp and used his binocular to scan the horizon. The Camp wasn't in great condition. The Legionnaire Guards seemed tired, and the numbers were a tiny fraction of the original Legion's forces. The Courier heard rumbling, and saw the bomber flying. It flew low across the camp, releasing a payload of explosives. There were yells, and many of the tents were ripped apart by the explosions. The Plane flew off, leaving chaos in its wake.

"Let's move! While they're weak!" The Courier said. He ran forward, aiming his Incinerator. He fired several fireballs into the camps, blowing flames through the buildings, and incinerated those inside. A guard ran forward, but Rex grabbed him and hurled him to the floor, ripping him to shred with several tough bites. The Securitrons rolled through, a blaze of machine gun fire and lasers. Missiles fired on the tents, and the Courier marched forward, Securitrons by his side. A fireball erupted to his right as a barrel of gunpowder was set off by a missile, and the Courier saw a pack of dogs running towards him. He raised his weapon, but he noticed the dogs were running in fear of the explosions rather than to attack, and he let them pass. The Courier let out a harsh laugh.

"Wipe them out." He said.

Lucius sat on his throne. The Courier was taking over his fort as he sat there. Lucius sighed. It wasn't supposed to be like this at all. The Courier was supposed to be killed, and he was supposed to be sitting in the Lucky 38, Ruler of the Wastelands. He had promised his new "Allies" he would hand them the Courier, but that wasn't going to happen. He would have had the Courier crucified anyway. His allies, who had given him weapons and told him to march on New Vegas. He hadn't, of course. The Legion was too weak. So he had given the weapons to the Fiends, and told them to attack the Strip. He hadn't expected them to succeed, just to kill enough Securitrons to allow his army to waltz in and capture it themselves.

Then, Lucius realized something. His allies had wanted him to march on the Strip and get wiped out. They were doing the same thing to him as he was doing to the Fiends. He growled. Lucius wasn't going to stand for that. A Betrayal of the highest order. He stood up and turned.

"You've screwed up everything." A Voice said. "Now you might as well die. You deserve as much."

Lucius turned, but took a plasma blast to the stomach. He toppled over, groaning. A Figure walked over to him, and pressed a plasma pistol to his head. Lucius closed his eyes, and waited for the shot. Everything had fallen apart, and now the third Caesar so far would die for this miserable desert. It was…

Lucius' head exploded as the plasma pistol fired.

"Turn on the device." The Figure said.

The Courier walked up to the Command Tent, Securitrons by his side.

"Cover the exits. I don't want Lucius…"

A blast of electricity went through the air. The Courier winced, but didn't feel anything. He turned to the Securitrons to see if they were damaged, but he was met with blank monitors. The Blast had turned them off.

"What was that?" Boone asked.

"Doesn't matter. We need to kill Lucius, then we'll see if we can fix them."

Rex whimpered, and the Courier noticed he had collapsed, and his non-robotic limb was pawing the Courier's leg.

"Don't worry, boy. We'll repair your robot parts in a second."

The Courier watched as Boone collapsed, and he noticed there was a figure behind Boone, using a Stealth Boy. The Courier turned, but took a power fist to the side of the head, and for the second time in 24 hours, he was unconscious.


	7. Interrogation

The Courier awoke in a dark room. He was tied to a chair, and was wearing a jumpsuit instead of his power armour. At least he still had his Pip Boy. He tried to move, but he was bound tightly. He surveyed the room, but he couldn't make out much. He thought he was underground. It looked like a Vault. The door in front of him was the same he had seen many times when searching vaults. Other than that, he room was barren, except for a small, bare metal table. The Courier started to panic. He wasn't afraid of death. But he was worried. What if they had just dumped him in here, and left him. Left here, dying of dehydration. It would be a horrible death.

After what seemed like days but was only little more than an hour, the door opened. A slender man with blond shaved hair and dressed in a suit stepped in, carrying a satchel and whistling. He opened his satchel, and looked up at the Courier.

"Hello!" He said cheerfully.

"Where am I? Who am I?"

"I probably shouldn't say. But, my name is Ant."

"Why I am here?"

"I'm going to torture you." Ant said, still smiling."

"Why?"

"That's two questions, really. Why do people want you tortured, or why am I going to do it? I'm doing it because it will be pretty funny. I don't know why people want you tortured. Maybe you annoyed them with all your questions."

Ant took out a machete, spiked knuckles, a cattle prod, a hunting knife and an apple. He laid the weapons out on the table, and leaned against the wall. He began munching on the apple, waiting. After five minutes, a guard in power armour came in. He was wearing Brotherhood power armour.

"The Brotherhood of Steel? That's who this is?" The Courier said.

The Brotherhood had several reasons to hate him, the main being he joined them to get power armour training, and then self-destructed the bunker.

Veronica Santangelo walked in after him. The Courier took a deep breath.

"Yeah. That's the Courier."

"Veronica, are you really going to leave me here? Remember all our adventures? When I got you the dress? Elijah's last words? None of that?"

Veronica frowned sadly, and walked out. The Brotherhood of Steel Paladin walked over to him and removed his helmet. He looked Hispanic, and had a shaved head.

"Here's how this is going to work. I'll ask you a question. You answer. Lie or refuse to answer, you get five minutes alone time with Ant."

"What?" Ant said. "So if he answers them all I don't get anything?"

He frowned, and slumped against the wall.

"Why should I answer anything? I'll be dead soon anyway." The Courier said, sneering.

"Because it'll be a quick death, rather than a week with Ant."

"Don't answer him. Come on, stay strong. You're already as good as dead, might as well stay silent…" Ant said.

"Shut it, Ant. First Question: Are you the Courier?"

"Yes."

"Who do you work for?"

"Mr House."

"Where were you during the Battle of Hoover dam?"

The questions went on for a bit for some time, mostly staying vague and questioning him about his backstory. Then came the hard ones.

"What happened to the Mojave Chapter?"

The Courier paused.

"I killed them."

"Were there any survivors?"

"Maybe. I didn't stick around. I assume there were some scouting when it happened."

"How did you kill them?"

"Self-destruct system."

"That requires three key cards."

"I pickpocketed them after I had helped them find some missing scouts."

"Why didn't you just charge the bunker with your Securitrons?"

"I needed power armour training." The Courier said.

The Paladin's nostrils flared.

"You betrayed my friends for training? You get five minutes, Ant." He said, walking out.

"Got it, Ross." Ant said.

Ant grinned, and grabbed his machete. He slapped the Courier with the flat of the blade, and slashed his knee. He started cutting lines along the Courier's leg, until the flesh was nearly shredded. Then, he got a bottle of whiskey from his suit pocket and poured it on the wound. The Courier yelled, and the Paladin, Ross, came back in.

"OK, Ant. Next question. Why did you even attack them?"

"Various reasons."

"Go on."

"Mainly, because you deserved it. At least, the Mojave branch did. You're little more than raiders, robbing power armour and energy weapons, helping no one and hoarding valuable technology for yourselves."

"You can't be trusted with them."

"Why is it you're only hoarding weapons? I didn't see any solar energy designs or auto-docs in your bases. You're little more than weapon-hoarding…"

Ross snarled, and walked out. After five more minutes with Ant, the Courier had several more cut along his shoulder, and a few broken ribs.

"Did Mr House send you to kill the Brotherhood?"

"Yes."

"How many Securitrons does he have?"

Before the Courier could answer, another figure walked in. He was wearing elder robes, so the Courier assumed he was the leader.

"Paladin Ross, what have you done to him?"

"Nothing, Sir. That was Knight Ant."

"He's too weak for interrogation. Put him in the cells, with Greg. That'll destroy his resistance faster than a blade."


	8. Prisoners

At around midnight, Veronica Santangelo watched as the Courier was dragged out of his room and interrogated. He was more stubborn than before, which only meant more time Ant had to break him. She remembered when she had travelled with the Courier. She didn't know he was like this. He seemed nicer. He even got her a dress. Of Course, she had left after finding out he had wiped out the bunker. Still, she did remember the nice guy who helped her out, and his robotic dog. Rex the Cyber dog was in her chamber now. She didn't want him being put down or decommissioned and sedated with the others, so she'd take care of him.

"How many Securitrons does Mr House have?"

The Courier had become more resistant since he realised most of the new questions featured Mr House and his weaknesses. Maybe he knew what they were planning. It didn't matter, Ant would dispose of him afterwards, and the Brotherhood would be rid of a menace. Veronica felt guilty of herself for thinking of that. Then she felt angry at herself for feeling guilt.

The Courier spat a bloody gob of spit in Ross' eye, and chuckled. The Courier smiled as Ross snarled. Veronica had seen that smile many times before, but now it had a menacing edge to it. She shouldn't even be watching him. She turned and walked off to her room.

The Courier had long realised his position was hopeless. But he had learnt something through the questions: The Brotherhood of Steel was planning to wipe out Mr House and capture the Strip. So he kept silent. It was painful, but he liked to think it was one last act of bravery. Ant was gleeful, pacing the room while holding a new tool, a flamer.

"What's the status of the Sharecropper farms?"

"Ant is looking pretty eager. Might as well let him use his toys."

"I think he's right. He…" Ant started.

Ross stepped back and slapped Ant.

"You will refer to me as Sir! I am your superior, and you will stop talking during the interrogation."

Ant flashed him a look of pure hatred, but it was only a brief look.

"Yes, Sir."

"Next question. What is the status of the new plane Mr House used in the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, and where is its hanger?"

"Hey, Ant." The Courier said.

Ant looked up.

"If you help me out of these ropes, we can capture all the paladins here and give you free rein of what to do with them."

Ant smiled at that, but he shook his head.

"You're on your own." He said. "Can I use the Flamer now?"

Ross put his hands on his head and groaned.

"Burn him up. Five Seconds of heat should loosen his tongue up." He said, looking at the Courier.

Ant stepped forward and fired the flamer. Flames surrounded the Courier, and he let out a scream. He writhed in his chair, and eventually the heat stopped. He panted, and looked at Ross.

"Next question." Ross said.

"That's it?" Ant said. "He doesn't even have many burn marks! Give me a full minute."

"Ant, shut your goddamn mouth before I put the barrel of a blaster in it. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

The Courier struggled against the ropes, and noticed the fires had snapped a few of them. Not enough to be noticeable, but enough to escape.

"Name Mr House's Lieutenants."

The Courier faked a gasp, and coughed, before whispering something.

"What?" Ross said.

The Courier wheezed, and Ross leaned in closer.

"Give me the names."

The Courier grabbed Ross and hurled him to the ground. He grabbed Ross' laser pistol out of his holster and aimed it at his head.

"Don't move." Ant said, aiming the Flamer.

"Let me ask you something, Ant. Do you really want to risk getting shot to safe Ross? He's a useless pawn in the grand scheme of things. I'll make you a deal. You can have Ross. Do whatever you want to him. All I want is to leave."

Ant frowned, lowering his weapon.

"How can I trust you?"

"Why would I lie?"

Ant put down the Flamer.

"Deal?" He said, looking down at Ross with a smile.

"Not yet. I need information. Where's my stuff?"

"Control Centre."

"How many people here?"

Ant paused, and started counting aloud.

"Nine. Two Squads of six with one killed by a death claw, and two in this room. Oh, and the Witness. The Scribe."

"Veronica. That's all I need to know."

The Courier wondered what he should do. Should he betray Ant, or let Ross have an incredibly painful death. The Courier sighed, and quickly aimed his pistol and fired, blowing off Ant's head. Then, he aimed at Ross and killed him as well. He was about to head to the control centre when he realised he needed back-up. With that, he headed to the bedrooms.

There was a single guard guarding the bedroom, and she wasn't even wearing a helmet. She had a cigarette clenched between her teeth. The Courier simply fired a laser through the side of her head, and took her weapon, a laser rifle. He took her keys, and opened the first bedroom. It was empty. The Second was his cell, and inside was Greg.

"I need your help. We're taking over the facility."

Greg chuckled.

"Freedom! I owe you a great deal, Courier."

He turned around and opened the next cell. Inside was a man, with a trimmed beard and light brown hair.

"Gary?" He asked. "Gary! GARY!"

Gary ran out of the cell, and the Courier grabbed him.

"I need your help. We're taking over the facility."

"Gary." He said, nodding in agreement.

Or perhaps nodding at the fact he had just insulted and was now about to try murder the Courier. The Courier couldn't tell, but he gave him the laser pistol anyway. He opened the next cell, and was greeted by Boone sitting next to a ghoul. Boone was wearing a jumpsuit, and for the first time in years had no sunglasses or beret. The Ghoul, Hank, was also in a jumpsuit.

"Good to see you." Boone said, showing the slightest trace of a smile.

"This the Courier?" Hank asked.

"Yeah." Boone said.

"It's a pleasure. I'm Hank."

"What's the plan?" Boone asked.

"We'll storm the Command Centre and get our stuff back. Then, we hunt down anyone left."

"Got it."

"Let's burn this place down and blow up the ashes." Hank said, smiling.

The Courier opened the last two cells. One was empty, the other held a young man in a suit clenching a knife.

"Stay back, Savages!" He screamed.

"It's OK. I'm here to help." The Courier said.

"LIAR! You're going to eat my brains! You all are! One of you is a zombie, one's an ogre, and the other three are murderers."

"He won't be any good in a fight." Hank said. "Let him be."

The Courier shrugged, and closed the door. Then, he headed towards the Command Centre.


	9. Steel Forest

The Courier found the elevator. He was about to step inside when a Knight stepped out. The Knight aimed his rifle, but Greg grabbed it and flung him against the wall. Then he placed his heavy foot against the Knight's neck and pressed on it, breaking the neck.

"Nice one, Greg."

The Courier stepped into the elevator, and they all attempted to cram in. When that failed, Gary opted to take the next elevator up, and gave his pistol to Boone. Or at least, he might have opted. He might have also said he was going to his room for a nap, or had claustrophobia. It was hard to decipher much from the words "Gary" said in varying pitches. The Elevator doors opened, and the Courier walked out. There were two guards posted at the door. The Courier and Boone aimed their pistols, and took down the first one within a few shots. The Second Guard raised his rifle and fired a blast of plasma that hit Greg, who was running forward. Greg didn't even break his stride, and punched the guard, crushing his helmet and skull. The Courier opened the door to the Command Centre and Control Room. The room contained several consoles and monitors, and a large map laid out on a table. Two Paladins were discussing something while leaning over the map, while another was on the consoles. Hank, who had stolen the rifle of one of the guards, ran forward and fired several blasts at point blank range to a Paladin's chest, and the Paladin didn't even have time to yell as he was reduced to ash. Boone fired an expertly aimed shot through another's head, blowing his head into several chunks. The last Paladin had time to raise his pistol and fire, but the Courier rolled to the side and pistol whipped the paladin, before executing him with a shot to the head.

"How many have we killed?" Boone said.

"There should be two left by my count." The Courier said, find a room filled with his supplies and smiling.

"There's no one left in the Vault. Maybe there's out patrolling."

The Courier and his new allies got into their old equipment. Greg was wearing goggles on his head and Brute Armour from the Master's Army, while holding a large minigun.

"Look what I found!" He said, smiling.

Hank was wearing green combat armour with a slightly rusted helmet, and had a backpack full of what looked like explosives on his back, and was holding a 10mm Machine Gun. Gary was wearing a Vault 108 Jumpsuit, studded with piecemeal leather armor. He held a lever-action shotgun and a baseball bat.

The Courier locked the Vault's doors so the two other Brotherhood Soldiers wouldn't return and sneak up on them, and went sat down in a chair by the table.

"We need to find what other supplies the Brotherhood have and destroy them." Boone said.

The Courier leaned his head back, and swore.

"Where's Veronica? We haven't found her yet." He said.

The Courier jumped to his feet, grabbed his magnum and went to the Bedrooms that were being used by the Brotherhood for their own soldiers. He opened the door, and saw Veronica lying on the ground, looking scared. Rex was on top of her, growling.

"Rex! Good job, Boy!" The Courier said, before looking at Veronica. "So how did this happen?"

"I reactivated his robotics so he could eat properly. Get him off me."

"No. You're the enemy, now. Rex, come here."

Rex jumped up and ran over happily to his master. The Courier stepped out of the room, and smiled.

"You're a Prisoner, now. Enjoy."

He forced Veronica into his old prison cell, which was a floor down, and locked her in.

"You're a monster." She said through the door. "All you've done is mess up a lot of lives for everyone in the Mojave."

The Courier frowned at that, before going up to the Command Centre and slumping in the armchair again.

"What's wrong?" Boone said.

"Are we just causing chaos?"

"No." Boone said. "We're doing it for the right cause."

"Even Caesar got up every morning, thinking crucifying people and enslaving the rest was for the "right cause". That doesn't mean anything."

"We're helping people."

"Are we? Hell, maybe all this will cause another Great War. Maybe if we helped Caesar he would have crucified a terrorist who otherwise would have set off an atomic bomb and destroyed the Strip. Maybe Mr House will go insane one day and wipe out everyone in New Vegas. We can't say for definite whether this is helping people. Even doing something as kind as helping people survive, like being a Doctor, even that could cause chaos. Look at Doc Mitchel. He saved my life, and look how much I changed the world."

"You need to think straight. We can't see the future, but we can sure as hell stop a lot of deaths in the presents."

The Courier sighed, and nodded. Before getting up.

"We should…"

"Oops!" Greg said as he knocked into a red button and the monitor turned on.

The Monitor showed a picture of a smiling man in a suit.

"Hello! I am Mr Bell. Welcome to your new home. If you are watching this, you have bought a place in the Steel Forest Project. The Steel Forest Project is a wonderful new plan. In order to pay for the construction of the Vaults, we are making a community of twenty vaults up here in the Peter Bell Nature Reserve, located West of Phoenix and South of Las Vegas. You and your family have been given a large home here. Your new Vault should contain a Command Centre, a supply storage area with dual elevators to the surface to help bring in or out supplies, twelve bedrooms, a water supply, a games room, a kitchen, an armoury, a bar and a living room. There's also several solar panels on top, so you'll never have to worry about blackouts! Now, I know this sounds like a bunker, but it's really more of a community. Why? Because we've given you a garage, situated on top of the entire vault, on the surface. It is made so you can't open the door into the vault without closing the door to the surface and wiping out all foreign bodies inside, so you won't have to worry about bugs! In this garage is the new Raider 5000, an armoured vehicle built for going between the vaults of Steel Forest, so you can trade with and even meet all your new neighbours! Doesn't that sound great? I hope you're happy with your new Vault, as it's going to be your home, as well as your descendants. Thank you, and have a comfortable apocalypse!"

The Monitor went off, and the Courier raised an eyebrow.

"Nineteen other vaults? Do you think the Brotherhood has captured them all?"

He was interrupted by Gary, who came out of the elevator.

"Gary!" He said frantically.

"What?"

"GARY!"  
The Courier got in the elevator, and went to the supply area.

"Whoa. This is more than I expected.

Inside was an army of robots. There were two dozen Securitrons, a dozen Protectrons, a dozen Mister Handsy's and Mister Gutsys, four Robobrains, a handful of Eyebots and Cyberdogs who had tubes running through them, and six sentrybots.

"We need to turn these things online. With these, we have a big enough army to wipe out the Brotherhood here in Steel Forest."

The Courier smiled. This was going to be easier than he had thought.


	10. The Hunter

The Courier sat in the Command Centre, thinking. He had to find out which of the private vaults was in use from the Brotherhood. Without knowing, he couldn't calculate where to send his new robot army, or where to attack. So he decided to visit Veronica.

"Come on, Rex." He said, as Rex hoped up and followed him.

The Courier got in the elevator and went down to the bedrooms. He could hear Princess screaming a floor down. He had sent Boone to convince him to come out, but obviously it wasn't going well. Greg and Gary were on top, guarding the Vault Entrance. Hank was seeing how the crops in the indoor farm was doing. The Courier opened the door to Veronica's cell. There was a bottle of purified water and a tray of maize next to the door, uneaten.

"Veronica."

"What?" She said harshly.

The Courier stared at her.

"You should eat."

"What do you care?"

"You were my friend. Maybe if you let go of this, we could be again."

"Leave."

"I'm not going to do that. I need to know which bunkers are being used by the Brotherhood."

"Why should I tell you?"

"Why? Because they're going to invade New Vegas and kill a lot of people. I've found schematics on invasion routes."

"It needs to be done. There has to be a sacrifice to really save New Vegas."

"Sacrifice is something people call other people that they're willing to kill because they've decided that they're superior then the so called "Sacrifice". Why does anyone else need to die, Veronica?"

"You wouldn't understand sacrifice. All you do is kill without regard. You've never lost anything. I've lost my entire family, because of you."

"When I was eleven, I witnessed my younger brother fall into a Cazador Nest. He didn't survive. When I was twelve, my mother shot herself through the head, not being able to live with having let one of her children die. When I was fourteen, I shot my Dad through the spine, put the barrel to his head and pulled the trigger."

"Why?"

"He was… a bad person. Once, when he captured a caravan, he whipped a merchant until his back was in tatters, and left him to die of exposure. He beat me a lot of nights, when he got drunk. Has any of this reached your standard of losing something?"

Veronica sighed, and looked down at her feet.

"Eight of the Bunkers had been captured, but we were looking to secure them all. By now, I'd say the rest of our forces have secured twelve of them."

"Why are you taking the bunkers?"

"We were going to use them as a base of operations to control a robotic invasion of New Vegas." She said, before pausing. "Since we'd be fighting Mr House's Securitrons, there wouldn't have been much loss of life, so that's why the Brotherhood need to invade…"

"Save it. I don't want to hear your excuses."

"New Vegas is a shining robotic beacon, and the Brotherhood could make it a temple of the pre-war days, a paradise."

"That's what Mr House is doing, so stop mentioning it."

The Courier left the room and closed the door, before heading back up to the Command Centre. He sat down his chair, and peered at the monitors. Boone walked up to him and sat down as well.

"Princess is getting louder. No luck?"

"Nothing." Boone said.

"We should just retire after this, Boone. I mean, after we wipe out the Brotherhood, we'll have no one left trying to kill us. We can just retire and live happily ever after. I mean, with the Legion destroyed either at Hoover Dam, our assault on the fort or that Missile I launched with Ulysses, they're destroyed. Securitrons have wiped out all the raiders who hate me, and everyone else loves me. Or else, just doesn't hate me enough to kill me."

Boone showed a hint of a smile.

"You're not going to retire. You love this life."

"You're right, Boone. Let's go plan the attacks."

Piper was having a pretty bad day. First, she had woken up to a Deathclaw trying to eat her leg. Then, she had went over to the Millers' Vault to trade some bighorn meat she had gotten, but found a group of raiders in power armor had captured the vault and forced them into the wastelands. Then, she found out they had captured most of the vaults she traded with. Then, two patrolling raiders found her, and were now frogmarching her back to their newly captured vault. She was wearing her Merc Cruiser Outfit, but they had stripped her of her binoculars, hunting revolver, bowie knife and her favourite weapon, her katana.

They were walking through a forest, the Peter Bill Nature Reserve, which was her favourite hunting grounds, and the location of most of the places she traded with. She hunted and gathered her own food, as she didn't enjoy eating any food that was centuries old. Her favourite meal was Bighorners steak, purified water and buffalo gourd seed. The only thing that wasn't natural she drank was Sunset Sarsaparilla. That was delicious. Other than that, she lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. She saw the top of the Vault they were taking her too. A Figure was crouching on top, aiming down the sights of a rifle. There was a flash, and instantly one of her captors fell as her head cracked open. The other drew his rifle and started firing, but Piper kicked him in the stomach and knocked him down, and the sniper finished him off with a few shots through the heart. The Sniper waved to her, and she walked over.

"Who are you?" Piper said.

"Boone. Are you a local?"

"I'm a hunter. I trade with the vaults. Do you know much about the raiders?"

"They're called the Brotherhood of Steel."

"I've heard of them. Have they captured everywhere?"

"They're planning to."

"So, who are you guys?"

The Sniper paused, and thought about it.

"A rag-tag group of wanderers, planning to take back the vaults."

"Why?"

"Various reasons."

"So if I help you wipe them out, I get my hunting grounds back."

"Yeah."

"Right, take me to whoever's in charge here."


	11. Battle Preparations

The Courier sat in the basement, tinkering with the sensors of a Robobrain. He was repairing the robots in the basement so he could start moving them out of the vault and preparing to attack. The Robobrains had their mechanic bodies shut down, and had their sensors hacked so it seemed to the brains like they were driving down an empty road. Most of the robots were now repaired, and he was working on upgrading the robots so he'd stand a better chance against the Brotherhood. Hank came down, escorting a girl. The Girl had brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and was wearing a Merc Cruiser outfit. She was looking around, and peered at the Robobrain.

"Are you the one they call the Courier?"

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"Piper. I hear you're planning on taking out the new raider tribe."

"They're not raiders. They're more like an army."

"Well, are you planning to kill them?"

"Yeah."

"I could be your escort. It's unfamiliar territory for you, but for me? I know it like the back of my hand."

The Courier paused.

"How do we know you're not a spy?"

"Your sniper saw me. I was captured by two of them, and I even helped kill one."

"Hank, get Boone to conform that."

Hank nodded, and walked off.

"So, you're an hunter then. Where you from?"

"Maxson, in NCR Territory. I came here after a… dispute with some locals. That's an odd looking dog you have there."

Rex barked, and she took out some gecko meat and threw it to him.

"Good boy."

Gary walked out of the elevator, and jogged over to the Courier, before pointing to one of the Vault Locations on Gary's personal Vault 108 Pip-Boy.

"Gary." He said.

"How do you know?"

"Gary."

"Well done." The Courier said. "Take a break. You deserve it."

"What the hell was that?" Piper said.

"That was Gary. He said he managed to track down several radio commands to one of the Vaults being controlled by the Brotherhood. It's the Vault that was supposed to relay communications among the Steel Forest to organise trading, defence and so on."

"What?"

"Well, each Vault here was built as part of a community, called Steel Forest. They can exist on their own, but also each have unique features that can be traded with among the community, like a radio tower for communication, a drilling platform to get fuel, and if my luck stays the same, a distillery. This Vault has a particularly large storage area, so I assume it was designed to hold enough goods to trade with everyone else."

"OK. So what's the plan?"

"Well, Gary has been practising his driving skills, so we'll use the Raider as a mobile command centre and lead the robots in an attack. You can act as Gary's wingman and do whatever he says to keep the truck moving."

"You have a truck?"

"Get Gary. He'll show you."

The Raider was in working condition, and ready for use. It was a large armoured personal carrier like device, with six massive wheels, a gunning position, slits in the side to fire out of, and enough space to fit twelve people. Unfortunately, several adjustments had to be made, including cutting out a much larger hole in the roof where the gunner could sit so Greg could squash in there. The Gunner position was like a bump in the truck, so Greg could shoot his minigun from the top while still having cover, a seat and more importantly not crushing anyone below. Four of the seats were replaced with a large console to help the Courier command the robots, and in the other four seats he would sit with Rex, Boone and Hank. Gary and Piper sat in the driver seats, with bulletproof glass in front of them, and Greg sat in the gunners seat, which creaked under his weight, but actually held. The Robots had been moved out and were now standing in front of the truck, except for a Sentrybot that stayed in front of Veronica's cell to make sure she didn't pull anything.

"Everyone ready? Yeah? OK, Let's go capture a bunker."

Veronica Santangelo sat in her cell, holding a bobby pin. She had unlocked the door, but could hear the sentrybot outside. She held in her hands a Nuka-grenade which she had fashioned from a hidden cache of supplies hidden in a secret panel. She was surprised the Courier hadn't noticed the panel on any of his visits here, but he always did have bad eyes. Veronica opened the vault door and rolled out the grenade, but dodging a stream of bullets and closing the door. She opened it a minute later, and sprinted through the radioactive area she had momentarily made. She sneaked up to the Command Room, but there was no one there. Then, she got her power-fist back, as well as her other supplies. She didn't know whether she was more offended that they left her with a single guard, or that she had even gotten captured in the first place because of a stupid dog. It didn't matter, anyway. She had plans to take care of.


End file.
